By Msgr. Bernard Powers

Opening Prayer

Loving Spirit of God,
You call us into the sacred word,
the inspired word.

What an amazing call.

Your word is a treasure found in a field,
a treasure of great price.
A treasure worth the selling of all
to purchase the field and have the treasure.

How wonderful your words,
so full of life and sweetness.
Indeed a meal.

Lead us into this word found.
As we feast on this word
give joy to our hearts.

Loving Spirit of God,
because we bear your name,
let us eat well.
                        Amen      

 
Opening the Scroll

Loving Spirit of God,
sometimes I find myself standing with John
raising the question: “Who will open the scroll?”
Yet as I question, the scroll is handed to me
for the opening.
In the opening  there is the finding.

In humility and faith I accept.
In reverence and attentiveness I open.
With hunger do I eat, I eat of the word.
To my mouth it is sweet, delicate, and tasty.
To my stomach it is bitter and sour.

Yet this scroll, this word, handed to me is from the Source of Life,
from the very hand of God.
In opening the scroll, I find the word,
the word for me, the word for my nourishment,
the word I need. I eat; I devour; I consume.
I live.
            There is self surrender of my will
            to this word. There is the dying to myself
            to this word.
            There is an obedience to this word
            is an abandonment,
            a submission total and complete.
            There is a dying and a rising. There is resurrection.

Where and when the Scroll, God’s word,
becomes the food for my spirit and the food for the journey,
than I  live.
As nature gives the nutrients necessary
for my living and for my temporal journey,
so the Scroll, the Word,
gives light to my mind,
strength to my will,
energy to my heart,
freedom to my spirit
and love to my whole being
for my spiritual journey.

I stand with John accepting the Scroll,
finding the word,
I eat.     
                                                Amen 

Text of Jeremiah 15:16

“When I found your words,
I devoured them;
they became my joy
and the happiness of my heart’
because I bore your name.
O Lord, God of host.”
                        New American Bible    

“When your words came,
I devoured them;
Your word was my delight
and the joy of my heart.;
for I was called by your name,
Yahweh, God of Saboath”
                        Jerusalem Bible

“Your words  are what sustains me;
they are food
to my hungry soul.
They bring joy to my sorrowing heart
and delight to me.
How proud I am to bear your name, O Lord.
                        The Living Bible

Finding the word

Most Holy Spirit,
my life is in your hands;
my heart is in your love.
You place in me a need,
a hunger… The appetite rages.
You who set me on a journey
as I move through life.
There are the sufferings and the crosses..
There are the joys and the celebrations.
My soul, my spirit, hungers.
Today the hunger is named.
I long for the Word.
I long for your words to empower me
to keep me moving .
I need just one word at a time,
a word that lifts up my heart
and my spirit in song.

On many occasions the word is found,
and I eat of it abundantly.  I feast on a banquet.
I find and devour your word.

The word is not the roaring, raging thunder,
nor the crashing, falling rocks…
neither is it the earth quake
shaking the mountains to their foundation.
Your word is the whisper of the cave
heard, found deep within me,
deep in my being.

            I find your word:
crumb or feast….

           I eat… I feast… I devour
            and there is the living.
            I rise and come down the mountain.

            The word heard in the whisper
            is the word found and devoured.
                                                   Amen